Guaranteed Effective All-Occasion Non-Slanderous Political Smear Speech

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3. This actually happened in Florida.

During the 1950 U.S. Senate Democratic primary campaign, Congressman George Smathers told an audience of rednecks that incumbent Claude Pepper was “a known extrovert,” practiced “celibacy” before marriage, practiced “nepotism” with his sister-in-law, “matriculated” with women in college, that his sister was “a thespian” and his brother “a practicing homo sapien.”

Smathers won the election.